The Tier 1 Investor Visa in the United Kingdom will see an increase in the investment threshold from £1 Million to £2 Million, from the 6th November 2014.

Changes to the Tier 1 Investor Visa

On 16th October 2014, the UK Visa service announced changes, which includes the increase of the current £1 million minimum investment level, being raised to £2 million. This change will occur on the 6th November, so new applicants after that date will be affected, applicants before that date will not be affected.

As you are aware, we are leading Investor Visa experts and can advise on the current position for Tier 1 Investor Visa applicants and intended applicants.

I am thinking of applying for this visa, but have not engaged Residency Invest, what can I do now?

Residency Invest are offering an exclusive service for those who are trying to apply for an investor visa before the changes. We are offering, for a fixed fee, to ensure that your application is considered by the UK Visa authority or your professional fee to us is returned back to you. This no win no fee, we hope reduces your risk in applying. When you contact us, we will analyse your circumstances and will devise an action plan for you which meets the 6th November 2014 deadline. If you then agree to the plan and can obtain the documents we ask for by the time we set, we will ensure the applications are done and meet the deadline or your professional fee returned.

Call our offices for more details.

I have already commenced my Investor Visa application with Residency Invest, what now?

We will be in touch, but we must complete your matter and make your application before 6thNovember 2014, if you are applying whilst you are in the country, this is the date we post your application, and if applying from outside the country, this is the date we pay for your application, usually online. Your terms and conditions remain the same.

What are the other changes that come in on 6thNovember 2014?

Applicant’s used to be able to invest 75% of their funds into active investment and keep 25% in cash or residential property. A change is being made to require the whole amount to be invested, without any provision for the 25% to be kept separately.

A point of flexibility introduced – is that the current requirement that the migrant’s investment must be “topped up” if its value drops has now gone. It has been replaced with a simple requirement that you invest the whole amount first and no need to top up if your investment goes down in value.

Loans are also now gone as an option

The Home Office, whether someone applies for the investor visa inside or outside the UK, can now refuse a person if they feel the application contains a risk that:

1) the applicant is not in control of the funds that are available for investment;

2) the investment monies were obtained in an unlawful manner, unlawful including events that are not unlawful in the country where they occurred but would be unlawful if they happened in the UK;

3) the character, conduct or associations of a party providing the funds mean that approving the application is not conducive to the public good. Ie, someone of bad character;

Whatever your situation, we can help, call our offices, or email us for more guidance.

Update: 2014 UK Immigration Bill Changes

Having received Royal Assent on 14 May, the new UK Immigration Bill will make some substantial changes to the functioning of the UK immigration system. While UK Immigration Minister, Mark Harper persists that the new Bill is a fair adjustment to the current legislation, a closer look at the draft reveals that not only illegal immigrants will suffer from the new measures. On the other hand, some discrepancies in the previous rules have been set right.

Marriage

In order to investigate the immigration records, the notice period for marriages and civil partnerships in cases where at least one of the partners is a non EEA national has been extended from 15 days to 28 days. This is to allow intelligence-based risk agencies to investigate possible sham marriages and civil partnerships.

If the Home Office is confident of this possibility, it may order a thorough investigation, including interviews and home visits, in which case the notice period can be extended to 70 days.

A negative decision will not only prevent the couple from getting married in the UK, it may also include curtailment of leave or even immediate removal.

Having set the basis of determination as “whether either of the couple may stand to gain an immigration advantage from the proposed marriage or civil partnership”, the new Immigration Bill has now given the Home Office an excuse to ban every non EEA national that wants to get married in the UK.

Appeals

The number of immigration decisions that can be appealed have been cut from 17 to only 4 possibilities.

Appeals against the refusal of a protection claim (a claim for asylum or humanitarian protection) can be founded on the basis of the removal of an appellant would:

Breach the UK obligations under the Refugee Convention or persons entitled to humanitarian protection; or

Be unlawful under Section 6 of the Human Rights Act.

Where an appeal is against the revocation of refugee or humanitarian protection status, the appeal can only be brought on the first ground.

When an appeal is against the refusal of a Human Rights claim, it can only be brought on the second ground.

This means that there will be no possibility to appeal against any negative decision on a visa applied for under the points based system. Refused applicants will be forced to reapply. This will have disastrous consequences for investors, students and every other applicant that will be losing valuable time and money.

Tougher powers

Next to the abovementioned constrictions on marriages and appeals, the new Immigration Bill now authorizes the Home Office with more power.

Immigration officers will be allowed to use reasonable force when it is necessary in the exercise of their powers. An undefined notion as “reasonable force” reflects the amount of thought the editors of the Bill have put into this provision. What will follow of this are speculations and court decisions on to what extend we can speak of “reasonable force”. If this Bill had any aim to reduce the backlog of court cases, this clause will not have helped that cause.

Also, private landlords will have to check the immigration status of their tenants, to prevent those with no right to live in the UK from accessing private rented housing.

Unlawful immigrants will furthermore not be able to open current accounts, as banks will have to check every foreign client in a database of known immigration offenders.

In addition, it will be made possible to revoke the driving licences of overstayers.

Remarkable

The government has expressed a sudden attention to the importance of persons who seek to enter or remain in the UK must speak English. This is a valid point, since migrants who speak English will not have a hard time finding a job or integrating in the British society and will be beneficial to every community in the UK.

Alarming is that from now on, little weight will be given to the private life of immigrants, or the relationship they might have built with a qualifying partner when it is established at a time when that person’s immigration status is precarious. A little consideration is appropriate in these matters; the right to private life is still a basic right for every individual. The counteracting of abuse of this right could have been resolved more efficiently.

Temporary migrants will be required to make a financial contribution to the NHS. The question that arises here is if it can be considered fair to take money from people who will not be entitled to benefit from the system.

Conclusion

The purpose of the UK Immigration Bill was to make the UK the least attractive destination for illegal immigrants, while reinforcing the message that the British government welcomes legal migrants who contribute to the economy and society, but this plan might just backfire. Imposing some of these strict arrangements, the government’s attempt to clarify and complete the previous rules might just scare off promising foreign potential and imply serious problems for asylum seekers.

Recent figures released show that in 2013 we saw a rise in the amount of Tier 1 Investor and Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visas granted in the UK.

There is great benefit to the UK economy from foreign Entrepreneurs and Investors using the UK as their base. Wealthy foreign investors are attracted by the good education system for their children, free healthcare, a booming financial sector and a growing market. Entrepreneurs see London in particular as the ideal place to start and grow their business.

It is expected that the Tier 1 Investor Visa will soon be changed – following recommendations to the UK government made by the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC). The MAC, have just published their report on the Investor Visa, which focuses on whether the current investment thresholds of the scheme provide sufficient economic benefits to the United Kingdom.

The current Tier 1 Investor Visa awards UK residency to non-eu citizens, when making an investment of £1,000,000 in the UK. Permanent Residency can be achieved after 5 years with this investment, with the scheme currently offering a fast track route to Permanent Residency when investing £5 million or £10 million, although this option has rarely been used. It has however been suggested by the MAC, who advises the government on immigration policy, that the current system is not creating enough economic benefit to meet government objectives.

Increase in Minimum Investment Threshold

The MAC has recommended that the minimum investment should be doubled to £2,000,000. It has been argued that the threshold has remained the same since 1994 (£1M) and that an increase in line with earnings is fair. Despite strong competition from other countries with comparable investment based visa programes, MAC has stated that it does not believe this higher investment threshold will be a major deterrent to high net worth families wanting to live in the UK.

Proposal for Investment Rules

The current Tier 1 Investor Visa requires that the investment must be made in the form of UK Government Bonds or UK company shares, and maintained for the duration of the investors stay – or until Permanent Residency is achieved. To date, the majority of applicants prefer the stability of bonds, but MAC has recommended that the UK government widen the requirements, to encourage investment outside of Gilts. To make the increased risk of these options more attractive the ‘top up’ rule would be abolished, meaning there would be no requirement to top the investment up should its value fall below the threshold.

Fast Track Route to Permanent Residency

The current system allows investors to achieve Permanent Residence status after 5 years when investing £1M. A fast-track system was introduced by 2011 allowing investors to achieve this status in 2 or 3 years by increasing their investment to £10M or £5M respectively. The MAC has also suggested an alternative “premium route” to Permanent Residence, in the form of a yearly “ebay style” auction process. This proposed system would auction off 100 premium visas to the highest bidders, creating a new fast-track route to Permanent Residency in the UK. This new system would also potentially halve the amount of days required to stay in the UK to 90 days.

In 2012 – 2013 there were 560 investor visa applications, mainly from China, Russia and U.S.

The UK Visa bond scheme, which would force visitors from ‘high risk’ countries to pay a £3,000 security bond when entering the UK, has been dropped.

This new proposed scheme was due to be piloted this month as a way of deterring visitors from overstaying there UK visa. The scheme, which is now understood to have been scrapped, would have meant visitors from countries considered ‘high risk’ would have had to pay a £3,000 deposit for a 6 month visit visa. This highly opposed scheme would have included visitors from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Ghana.

Indian Business leaders earlier in the Year stated that they considered the scheme “Highly Discriminatory” and Deputy UK Prime Minister Nick Clegg stated that he would block the plans if the scheme was applied in an “Indiscriminate way.”

Nick Clegg also stated: ”I am absolutely not interested in a bond which becomes an indiscriminate way of stopping people who want to come to this country, and in many respects bring great prosperity and benefits to this country, of course not.”

It is claimed that the UK Visa bond has now been dropped due to lack of support from the Liberal Democrats, as well as a number of other governmental departments.

Chinese Nationals will soon find it easier applying for UK Visas: Chancellor George Osborne announces this during his recent trade trip to China.

As reported by the BBC, under this new plan, Chinese Nationals will no longer need to apply for a separate UK Visa, when visiting Europe. This is all part of Britain’s plan to encourage more Chinese companies to invest into UK.

As it currently stands, Chinese nationals apply for a single visa to visit much of Europe, but a separate one is need to visit the UK. Experts believe that this extra paperwork is deterring many Chinese visitors from including the UK during their trip to Europe.

Mr Osborne announced at a speech in Beijing: “What I really want it to be about is strengthening the understanding between our two nations, deepening our friendship, working out where by working together we can improve the lives of all our citizens.”

It is widely felt that UK businesses would welcome the plans to relax Visa rules for the Chinese.

Mr Osborne went on to say :”Let me make this clear to you and to the whole of China, there is no limit to the number of Chinese who could study in Britain. There is no limit to the number of Chinese tourists who can visit. No limit on the amount of business we can do together.”

Next summer the UK will be launching a ‘Super Priority’ 24-hour Visa service for Chinese Nationals who want to visit the UK. It is hoped that this, along with the new relaxed rules, will increase the 210,000 UK Visas that were issues to Chinese Nationals last year.

We are glad to announce that we can now offer non-EU families a secure and simple path to a longer term UK Visa.

If you are a non-EU citizen, and you want to migrate to the UK by investing into a business, then the Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa may be perfect for you.

The Tier 1 Entrepreneur UK Visa rewards non-EU citizens with residency, when they invest into the UK either by taking over an existing business, or starting their own. Unlike some of the other economic residency programmes around the world, with the tier 1 UK visa,applicants are in complete control of their money, and the Visa can be granted in as little as a 3 weeks. The tier 1 entrepreneur visa requires that a minimum of £200,000 is available to invest into a business.

The investors family are also invited into the country under this category visa, including the spouse, and any dependent children under the age of 18. Not only will applicants have the right the live and work anywhere they want in the UK, but they will automatically benefit from the British Healthcare system (NHS) and their children have full access to the fantastic educational system in the UK.One thing that migrants under this visa will not have access to is the social security benefit system.

Once the UK Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa is granted, holders can come to the UK for a maximum of 3 years and 4 months, with the possibility of extending your stay for an additional 2 years at a time. It is also possible to be granted permanent residency in the UK between 3-5 years, as long as the applicant meets certain criteria.

Residency Invest will be offering a complete service for this UK category visa, helping investors first apply for the Residency Visa, helping them to start their new company or choose an existing one to purchase, helping them to purchase real estate both commercial or residential, and much more.

About Residency Invest

Global Residency Programmes, Citizenship and Visa Services. We specialise in helping international investors achieve permanent residency, long term visas or Citizenship in the USA, United Kingdom, Europe and Caribbean.

We do this securely through government approved and regulated residency programmes.

We specialise in the EB5 Immigrant Investor Program for USA, and the Tier 1 Entrepreneur and Investor Visa program for United Kingdom.